


National Anthem, Hats Off

by charleybradburies



Series: Future, Present, & Past [3]
Category: NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles
Genre: #girlssupportinggirls, Co-workers, Community: 100_women, Community: 1_million_words, Community: ncis_drabble, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Day Off, Drabble, Female Character In Command, Female Character of Color, Female Characters, Female Friendship, Female Relationships, Female-Centric, Fluff, Friendship, Fun, Gen, Hanging Out, Memorial Day, New Year's Resolutions, Off-screen Relationship(s), POV Female Character, Relationship(s), Spa Treatments, Team, Team Bonding, Team Dynamics, Team Feels, Team Fluff, Washington D.C., Women Being Awesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-26
Updated: 2015-05-26
Packaged: 2018-04-01 10:10:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4015771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charleybradburies/pseuds/charleybradburies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p></p><div class="center">
  <p>“Take the day off tomorrow,” Sarah had said. “You all deserve it.”</p>
  <p>+</p>
  <p>NCIS Drabble Challenge #439: Free Day & 100-women Prompt #7: Present.</p>
</div>
            </blockquote>





	National Anthem, Hats Off

**Author's Note:**

> S/O to the wine store near my house for being fodder for a reference *gives thumbs up* & to my city for being complicated and awesome; to Queens Bey and Nicki for the fabulous 'Feeling Myself', from which the title of this work is taken, and by which some pieces of this work are inspired, mostly because I was listening to it on repeat while writing this. 
> 
> There will be (at least) one more part of this series as far as I've planned it - a chapter from Abby's POV - but I may well continue past Abby and write something from Delilah's, Breena's, Kate's, etc. 
> 
> Comments, etc. are appreciated as always!!!

“Take the day off tomorrow,” Sarah had said. “You all deserve it.”

Which was a _bit_ confusing, since even though the case they’d just wrapped had been tough…well, they _all_ were tough, they all had high stakes, and Gibbs’ team always gave it their all and then some. The LA team seemed to be on the same wavelength, which continued to make working together that much more collaborative.

Not that Ellie was complaining about getting a day off, she just…wasn’t sure what to do with herself.

That is, until her phone had rung early that morning. She'd already gotten up to see Jake off to work, so she'd answered, but mentally she was still in bed - and agreeing to a suggestion of Abby’s before being properly awake was an oversight she'd left unnoticed for a portion of the morning. 

So, here she was: sitting on her concrete porch step, stretching her pale legs out along the path up to the door, waiting for Abby and God-knew-who-else to show up - with a gym bag at her side, packed with all sorts of usually extraneous items, like booty shorts she hasn’t worn since college and a bikini and the 20% off coupon that she’d won in the office's Memorial Day raffle, to the expansive Woodley Park wine shop.

But her New Year's Resolution had been to live in the present, to do things she wasn't used to doing; and spending days out with female friends - let alone _four_ \- was foreign to her, something she'd never really given herself the time or freedom to do. Growing up, it had been safer to just hang around with her brothers - they all liked each other well enough - rather than chance humiliation or worse with classmates equally as competitive as she; in college, she'd barely stopped studying, using personal enrichment as an excuse to disconnect herself from any peers she wasn't sure about.

Abby’s car looks as much like a clown car as usual - not that Ellie will share the comparison - but she hops up and heads over, slipping into the passenger seat which has apparently been saved for her, if the mass of... _stuff_ next to Kensi in the backseat is any way to judge. 

“Delilah and Ziva are gonna meet us there,” Abby informs her excitedly, and Ellie nods, though a bit nervously.

“I haven’t had a spa day in forever, either,” says Kensi reassuringly. 

_"Literally_ forever for me," Ellie says like it's a secret, and Abby gasps animatedly.

"Seriously? You've _never_ gone out to a spa with friends, or your mom, or anyone?"

Ellie shakes her head. 

"Well, it'll be fun, I promise. And _like_ I said, I've had a long-standing relationship with this place, ever since Kate and I went...so next time we get a day off during the week, we're gonna go back!"


End file.
